cuing two white children.

And in fact the Arabs who joined the caravan did not fear the pursuit
very much. They rode with great haste and did not spare the camels, but
they kept close to the Nile and often during the night turned to the
river to water the animals and to fill the leather bags with water. At
times they ventured to ride to villages even in daytime. For safety
they sent in advance for scouting a few men who, under the pretext of
buying provisions, inquired for news of the locality; whether there
were any Egyptian troops near-by and whether the inhabitants belonged
to "the loyal Turks." If they met residents secretly favoring the
Mahdi, then the entire caravan would visit the village, and often it
happened that it was increased by a few or even a dozen or more young
Arabs who also wanted to fly to the Mahdi.

Idris learned also that almost all the Egyptian detachments were
stationed on the side of the Nubian Desert, therefore on the right, the
eastern side of the Nile. In order to avoid an encounter with them it
was necessary only to keep to the left bank and to pass by the larger
cities and settlements. This indeed lengthened their route a great
deal, for the river, beginning at Wadi Haifa, forms a gigantic arch
inclining far towards the south and afterwards again curving to the
northeast as far as Abu Hamed, where it takes a direct southern course,
but on the other hand this left bank, particularly from the Oasis of
Selimeh, was left almost entirely unguarded. The journey passed merrily
for the Sudanese in an increased company with an abundance of water and
supplies. Passing the Third Cataract, they ceased even to hurry, and
rode only at night, hiding during the day among sandy hills and ravines
with which the whole desert was intersected. A cloudless sky now
extended over them, gray at the horizon's edges, bulging in the center
like a gigantic cupola, silent and calm. With each day, however, the
heat, in proportion to their southward advance, became more and more
terrible, and even in the ravines, in the deep shade, it distressed the
people and the beasts. On the other hand, the nights were very cool;
they scintillated with twinkling stars which formed, as it were,
greater and smaller clusters. Stas observed that they were not the same
constellations which shone at night over Port Said. At times he had
dreamed of seeing sometime in his life the Southern Cross, and finally
beheld it beyond El-Ordeh. But